Clairvaux

Clairvaux, village, northeastern France, in Aube département,Champagne-Ardennerégion, east-southeast of Troyes. Its abbey, founded in 1115 by the French churchman and mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux, became a centre of the Cistercian order. All that remains of the original abbey is a large 12th–century storehouse and other vestiges, which have been incorporated in an 18th-century monastery. The central building was transformed into a prison during the 19th century.

Clairvaux Abbey’s central building, which is now a prison, in Clairvaux, France.

Prosopee

Overview of France’s Clairvaux Abbey, with a discussion of the Cistercian order.

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région of France encompassing the northern départements of Haute-Marne, Aube, Marne, and Ardennes and roughly coextensive with the historical province of Champagne. Champagne-Ardenne is bounded by the régions of Lorraine to the east, Franche-Comté to the southeast,...

1090 probably Fontaine-les-Dijon, near Dijon, Burgundy [France] August 20, 1153 Clairvaux, Champagne; canonized January 18, 1174; feast day August 20 Cistercian monk and mystic, the founder and abbot of the abbey of Clairvaux and one of the most influential churchmen of his time.